Tech war: China finds that US chip giant Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law

[Barnsley]

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/...-chip-giant-nvidia-violated-anti-monopoly-law


US-China tech war
TechTech War

Developing | Tech war: China finds that US chip giant Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law​

The State Administration for Market Regulation began its probe into Nvidia last December​

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https://www.scmp.com/policies-and-standards

SCMP Reporter
Published: 4:35pm, 15 Sep 2025Updated: 5:38pm, 15 Sep 2025

China’s antitrust regulator said on Monday it found American semiconductor giant Nvidia in violation of the country’s anti-monopoly law and would proceed with further investigation, an apparent response to escalating technology rivalry with the US.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) initiated a probe into Nvidia in December over suspected violations related to its US$6.9 billion acquisition of Israeli interconnect products and solutions provider Mellanox Technologies.

The Nvidia-Mellanox deal, announced in 2019, received approval from the SAMR in April 2020 under the stipulation that Nvidia continue to supply its graphics processing unit accelerators, Mellanox’s high-speed network interconnect equipment, and related software and accessories to the Chinese market under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory principles”.

 

[KevinK]

New government policy forces NVIDIA to violate the terms of a merger consent agreement from the Mellanox merger. Who would have thunk it ?

 

[hist78]

New government policy forces NVIDIA to violate the terms of a merger consent agreement from the Mellanox merger. Who would have thunk it ?

Which government are you talking about?

 

[KevinK]

US government policy of not selling to China violates the agreement to sell products in a “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” way. Typical agreement signed when securing merger approvals for somewhat monopolistic products. Of course it’s really not a legal dispute but a single chit in the major country-to-country negotiations.

 

[samwilde]

Huawei can make their own networking products so they don't care. But it might be relevant for other smaller Chinese AI chip makers

 

[KevinK]

BTW - this really isn’t a just a tech trade war. The outcome of the trade talks is more likely to be politically driven by soybeans vs silicon. The deliveries to China season in the US for soybeans is Sept-Feb. Sales start earlier, and so far this season they haven’t bought any from the US.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-misses-out-billions-dollars-china-soybean-sales-midway-through-peak-season-2025-09-10/

https://soygrowers.com/news-releases/soybeans-without-a-buyer-the-export-gap-hurting-u-s-farms/

 

[siliconbruh999]

So China will get Free GPUs?